BLIND RADAR

Source: Trinidad Express

Drug, gun-tracking unit down for past 3 months

Richard Charan South Bureau

Friday, January 11th 2008

OUT OF ORDER: The "coastal surveillance" radar station on the San Fernando Hill overlooking the Gulf of Paria, which is supposed to track gunrunners and drug smugglers, has been out of service. -Photo: dave persad

The boast by Prime Minister Patrick Manning and his security chief Martin Joseph that Trinidad and Tobago was secured by a 360-degree coastal surveillance radar was off by several degrees for at least three months.

That is how long the "coastal surveillance" radar station on the San Fernando Hill-one of ten dotting the nation's coastline-was out of service.

Manning and Joseph have often spoken about the 360-degree radar coverage being crucial in stopping the flood of illegal guns and drugs fuelling many of the violent crimes in the country.

The radar had helped Coast Guard and Organised Crime, Narcotics and Firearms Bureau officers make several drug busts in the Gulf since it began operating in 2006.

Technicians spent the day yesterday working on the radar, which is capable of detecting and tracking boats as small as fishing pirogues, as well as being able to follow the target, provide real-time updates on its location, direction and speed.

The equipment was being tested yesterday evening after being removed and dismantled under the security of Special Anti-Crime Unit (SAUTT) officers. Workmen at the scene declined to speak with the Express.

And no one wanted to say how much of the Gulf of Paria-where intelligence officials believe much of the narcotics, guns, South American sex workers and contraband are smuggled into Trinidad-had been left without surveillance while the system was being fixed.

Southern Division police said they were aware the installation went down last October, since it had stopped rotating.

Mon Repos officers patrol the installation.

The radar installations were the State's best-kept secret until August 2006, when it was revealed in the Red House that Government had used the Vehicle and Maintenance Company of Trinidad and Tobago to buy the devices from Israel.

The Advanced Coastal Surveillance Radar (ACSR), built by Israel's Aircraft Industries Limited, cost more than $130 million.

The company has advertised the system as having the ability to prevent illegal immigration and drug smuggling, illegal fishing and terrorist activity.

It has the capability to detect submarine periscopes and airborne targets on a 24-hour, all-weather basis, from a command centre on a colour screen showing an outline of the country's coastline.

Payments for the equipment were made between 2002 and 2006.

In 2001, Prime Minister Manning visited Israel and met then prime minister Ariel Sharon to discuss security matters.

Well, well, well, they could have mentioned this before the General Elections last year. Why keep such pertinent information hidden from the public? I'm sure the drug smugglers were informed of this broken radar though. They probably make mass before the elections. I don't really have to say much more as this article speaks for itself about how low and underhanded the PNM can get. I'll leave you all with a couple quotes from Internet readers of the Trinidad Express.

Blind radar
what a shame-- de police & the criminals are responsible fo rthe break down-- why fix it when they want the guns/narcotics trade to flourish!!! unless we root out these criminals,we'd get no where fighting this menace!!

Radar not working?
Why didn't Mr Manning announce that the radar system was down before election? One wonders how many more have broken down? What about the blimps? Did Mr. Manning purchase inferior quality from his friends in Israel? Why didn't the police report the broken radar? Could it have been in their favour to allow their criminal friends to smuggle guns and drugs? More reasons for asking the minister of National Security to resign. Trini. from malaysia.

Ramesh plans private security for Macaulay

Source: Trinidad Guardian 110108

What Ramesh said

• Police failing to protect people of Macaulay
• Government not serious about fighting crime

PRIVATE security guards will from Monday provide armed security for residents of Macaulay, south Trinidad.

The residents had been for days complaining about an increase in criminal activity in their community.

It is an initiative of former attorney general Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj and Fifa vice president Jack Warner and the United National Congress to get the police and the Government, in particular, to address the escalating crime problem in Macaulay and other parts of T&T.

The Opposition Chief Whip and Tabaquite MP made the announcement on Wednesday as he addressed the media after a UNC executive meeting at Rienzi Complex, Couva.

Maharaj accused the police and the Government of failing to protect the people of Macaulay in light of a recent rise in crime in that area.

It was only recently that a 76-year-old woman, of the community, was repeatedly raped and killed. Residents said there was also an increase in robberies.

Maharaj said the armed security guards would work with watch groups in Macaulay and surrounding areas to provide security. He said these guards would track down and arrest criminals who would then be turned over to the police.

Maharaj said UNC planned to hold a meeting at the Macaulay Community Centre on Sunday at 4 pm to formally announce the move.

He said the party planned to launch a national fund to finance the project throughout T&T.

Maharaj said the UNC’s parliamentary caucus met earlier that evening and reviewed its strategy employed in Parliament on the crime problem.

He said the parliamentary caucus agreed that the Government had not responded to the needs of the people on what it intended to do to make people feel safe on a daily basis.

Maharaj said the Government was not serious about fighting crime.

He said the UNC would not let up on the issue of getting the Government to tackle crime. He said the Opposition planned to put crime on the front burner to ensure that the issue of crime was raised aggressively in the Lower House.

In a news release yesterday, Maharaj said: “Watch groups had been formed throughout the commonwealth in countries where the residents of communities believe that the communities are under attack by criminals.”

Maharaj’s release said: “Any person seen committing a criminal offence can be arrested by a citizen and taken to the police. This is known as a citizen’s arrest.”

Imagine that. Macaulay is in the PNM constituency of Point-a-Pierre, MP being Christine Kangaloo, and UNC-A MP for Tabaquite, Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj is the one who has to organise private security for that village. Now you see this is what happens when you vote PNM, they use you like a $10 whore (get your vote) and they throw you out the door when they finish get what they want. Take what allyuh getting now yes, because allyuh like it so. Keep voting PNM and see if you will even live to the year 2020.

Gunmen on robbery spree snatch pensioner

Source: Trinidad Guardian 110108

CENTRAL police are seeking the public’s assistance in helping to find a pensioner who was reportedly abducted when gunmen went on a rampage at an apartment complex at Orchard Gardens in Chaguanas.

A man reported to police that around 10 pm on Wednesday, he was standing at the front of his home when three masked men put a gun to his head and ordered him to take them inside his home.

The men reportedly ransacked the house and left with a laptop valued $8,000.

Police said before leaving, the gunmen reportedly terrorised several residents, robbing them of cash and valuables.

They then shoved an elderly man into a car and sped off.

Police officers who responded to the call, locked down the area for close to two hours as they conducted door-to-door searches for the elderly man. However, he was not found.

Police are asking anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers at 800-TIPS. (AGS)

Notice that there were no gang related killings in the North Western Division (Morvant, Lavantille, Diego Martin, etc) in the last couple of days and now we hear residents in Central Trinidad being terrorised. Looks like those gang members decide to take a day off from killing each other and go back to the business of terrorising the residents of Central and robbing them of valuables so they could afford to buy Carnival costumes and also buy tickets to WASA Fete, Licensing Fete and all those other Fetes. Things like this won't be big on the agenda for the PNM because unlike those gang members who live in the East-West Corridor, most Central residents don't vote PNM. So if Central residents are killed it really no big loss. But when a gang member in Lavantille is killed, that is one less vote for the PNM, so it becomes a matter of urgency.

Police probing 2 more murders

Source: Trinidad Express
Jensen LaVende

Friday, January 11th 2008

murder victim: Jonathan "Ants" Blanc

NORTHERN Division detectives were kept busy yesterday following the discovery of two bullet riddled bodies.

Police said around 11 a.m. they received a tip off and went to the half-mile mark along the Guanapo Road, Arima, where they found the body of the man.

The man of was of African descent and appeared to be in his 50s and there were gunshot wounds to his head and chest. The unidentified body was later taken to the Port of Spain mortuary.

Anyone with information as to the identity of the man is asked to contact the Arima Police Station.

In the other incident, police were called out around 3 p.m. when the body of Jonathan "Ants" Blanc, 22, was found near his home at Hillview Avenue, By-Pass Road, Arima.

According to relatives he was not known to be in any illegal activities.

Police said he had been stabbed and shot and his killers also slit his throat. His body was dumped in his neighbour's yard.

Relatives described him as a "good boy" who worked with his father. He would have celebrated his 23rd birthday on January 16.

The two killings push the murder toll to 19.

This one is a classic. He was a good boy, he was just going by the parlour to buy ah bread, he never do nothing to nobody. How many times have we heard that line before? His relatives say he was not known to be in any illegal activities. Well I guess they didn't know much. That didn't look like any ordinary killing: stabbed, shot and throat slit. Sounds like overkill to me.

And what's with the nickname in the middle..."Ants". Every time I hear one of those gang members get shot and killed, or for that matter any news about some gangster wannabe, they always have some kind of nickname in the middle. Fresh, blood, small saleem and now ants. Take a hint nah, yuh bwoy was in ah gang and he never tell allyuh. Oh and before I forget, we now have 19 murders in 11 days, how much more incompetent can the PNM get?

Bulletproof vest in baby’s stroller... Sea Lots mother jailed for one year

The bulletproof vest allgedly seized from Sea Lots resident Nadine Phillip.
Photo: Indarjit Seuraj
Source: Trinidad Guardian 100107

BY INDARJIT SEURAJ

A Sea Lots mother has been sentenced to one year in jail with hard labour after she was found guilty of having a bulletproof vest inside her baby’s stroller.

As he passed sentence yesterday, Magistrate Adrian Darmanie said while he acknowledged the accused was not involved in anything illegal, she was keeping the vest for a friend or relative.

“Unfortunately, the company she keeps brought her down,” Darmanie said, before passing sentence on 21-year-old Nadine Phillip.

Phillip, of Production Drive, had pleaded not guilty to the charge but was convicted after a speedy trial Tuesday.

Acting Sgt Ingrid Charles-James prosecuted.

Phillip broke down in tears on news of the sentence.

According to the facts of the trial, the vest had been hidden under her baby in a stroller when Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) officers conducted raids at Production Drive in Sea Lots, last Friday.

Earlier yesterday, attorney Gordon Lamming had asked that a non-custodial sentence be imposed on his client as she had recently given birth.

Lamming argued that the child needed his mother, especially for the baby’s nutrition.

In light of the mitigating factors, Darmanie did not impose the two-year maximum sentence.

Acting Sgt Andy Farrell of the IATF charged the accused.

This is what you get for protecting criminals. They shouldn't have felt sorry for her. Punish her to the full extent of the law. It's people like her that have the country in the state it is in today. Make an example out of her and take custody of the child too! She was aiding and abetting a criminal.

Dhansook plans to spill more beans

Source: Trinidad Express

Richard Charan South Bureau

Thursday, January 10th 2008

Dansam Dhansook, the man who fingered two of the most powerful politicians in the ruling

PNM with claims of corruption, said yesterday he planned to report another government official to the police.

Dhansook, whose evidence against former Energy Minister Eric Williams was rejected by the court, said he would be sending a file to the Anti Corruption and Investigations Bureau (ACIB) about the official's attempt to swindle property from him.

Dhansook spoke yesterday for the first time since Port of Spain Magistrate Lucina Cardenas-Ragoonanan threw out seven corruption charges against Williams.

Cardenas-Ragoonanan said no jury would convict on the evidence. Dhansook was the State's star witness.

But yesterday, Dhansook, who is also the star witness in the ten corruption charges against former Works Minister and PNM party chairman Franklin Khan, said that the Director of Public Prosecutions should further pursue the case against Williams.

"The DPP should take a second look at the evidence in this matter," Dhansook told reporters in South Trinidad, at a location which he did not want disclosed.

He said it was Prime Minister Patrick Manning who had advised him to report his claims of corruption against the two ministers to his attorney. He said he had no regrets about what he had done, although he had lost lucrative contracts.

Dhansook, whose business - TT Geoseis Services Company Ltd -- provides oil exploration services, said his family now lived abroad, but he had no plans to leave.

"I believe Trinidad and Tobago will be a better place. People who want to get involved in corruption will think twice," he said.

Dhansook said he would be testifying in the Khan case and was willing to stand the consequences of his actions.

Dhansook, a local government councillor in the Rio Claro/Mayaro Regional Corporation, said he remained a member of the PNM and did not intend to resign. He said he was still friendly with many of PNM politicians. However, he said Manning was a dictator who had hijacked the party.

Sometimes I wonder what is this guy's point? It doesn't matter how much evidence he brings or how much times he testifies in court, the bottom line is that as long as PNM is in power and they have their party hacks in high positions in the Judiciary, justice will never be served and court decisions will never be fair. Opposing forces will always be persecuted and PNM friends and family will always get away no matter what crime they commit.

Ramesh: Form vigilante groups

Source: Trinidad Express

Citizens must defend themselves against bandits, says ex-AG

Phoolo Danny-Maharaj pdanny@trinidadexpress.com

Thursday, January 10th 2008

FORMER attorney general and Member of Parliament for Tabaquite, Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, says if Government does not act to protect citizens, he would encourage them to form their own citizens police stations, vigilante or watch groups.

And he says he would help provide armed security guards to assist citizens "to track down the criminals in the area, catch them and then deliver them to the police".

Maharaj, who was addressing a meeting of crime-affected villagers at the Macaulay Community Centre, Claxton Bay, on Tuesday, also told them if Government failed to provide police protection against criminals, people would be acting legally if they take up weapons to injure or even kill their attackers in self defence.

The residents of Macaulay and surrounding areas, which include the constituencies of Pointe-a-Pierre and Tabaquite, complained of an upsurge of crime and lack of police action. They said within recent months, there had been an increase in hold-ups, robberies, car theft, house breaking, rapes and murders.

Maharaj said the history of the law is that a man's house is his castle and "when somebody leaves the road and go to your home, they must be prepared to face the consequences. You are entitled to use whatever force necessary to protect everyone in your home and your life".

The villagers are also calling for a police post in the area.

Urging citizens not to sit back and allow bandits to terrorise their lives, Maharaj said: "The law is that you do not have to wait for someone to kill you before you act in self defence. So if I am walking out of the door and a man comes to me with a gun I do not have to wait for him to fire, I can take out my revolver and shoot him and kill him, and that would be self-defense.

"If a man comes to attack my family in my house, I do not have to wait for police to come, I am entitled to use reasonable force to protect my house and family, even if it means shooting at his feet."

He stressed that as MP, it was his duty to encourage his constituents to defend themselves, especially because the Constitution gives every citizen the human and fundamental rights to life and enjoyment of property.

Maharaj said he planned to send a letter to and speak with Minister of National Security Martin Joseph to inform him of the urgency of the situation and the immediate need for a temporary mobile unit in the area and for 24-hour police presence.

I agree with the Ex-AG 100% on this one. If the police are unable to protect us then it's time we started protecting ourselves. We also need to be aware of the laws governing self-defense. It is the right of every citizen to to life and enjoyment of property. We have to stand up and fight for what is our right. Stop taking bull-shit from the criminals. There also needs to be some revision in the laws concerning firearms. Citizens should be given the right to bear arms in order to protect themselves.